Antiheroes

Chapter 67: Last Time

Tommy POV.
✨6 weeks ago✨

I remember the last conversation that I had had with Techno before he went to go to the library that day. It had been clear that he was stressed after George and Karl were both taken, which was understandable. He was the leader, and they were behind enemy lines and would be killed if they were discovered, it would make anyone worry.

It was relatively early in the morning and I had woken up to get ready for school. He was up at the same time, which wasn’t strange for him since he often was up at all odd hours training or studying for anything.

“Morning Techno,” I greeted as I dug around the fridge for some milk for my cereal. I eventually found it and so I pushed the fridge door shut, holding the milk in one hand for my breakfast, and a coca cola can in my other hand.
“Morning Tommy,” he responded, stealing the milk from my hand before I could pour it.

“Hey!” I glared at him, watching as he poured the milk into a hot drink he had made himself which, knowing him, could be either coffee or tea. He held his drink in one hand, poured a dollop of milk, then added a little more milk, clearly taking his time to annoy me based on the way he was maintaining eye contact.

Eventually he paused and took a long sip of his drink. “Are you done yet?” I asked, feeling unimpressed as I crossed my arms and cocked a brow.
“Yes, I’m done.” My brother smiled innocently, as though he didn’t just steal milk from my hand.

“Good,” I grumbled as I took the milk and poured it into the bowl of cereal before returning it to the fridge. Techno chuckled lightly as I walked past him to go grab a spoon and made a point to shove him out of the way lightly.
“Why are you mad this morning?” He questioned, tilting his head slightly in curioustly.

“I had another talk with Phil last night,” I told him. “I asked him if he could train me to fight again and he said ‘not until you are older’.”
“Damn,” he muttered. “But if I were you I would be kind of glad about that.” That confused me and caused me to raise an eyebrow at him, wondering why I should be glad.

However it didn’t seem like he was going to answer and so I pressed on myself. “What do you mean ‘you would be kind of glad about it if you were me’?” I followed after him as he strolled casually into the living room with his drink.

For a couple of moments he said nothing as he settled down, taking several lengthy sips from the cup in his hands. Then, after a while of nothing he sighed. I was feeling increasingly confused and worried by the amount of time that he took to say anything, before he finally spoke up. “Being a hero is great Tommy, but it consumes your life.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, sitting beside my older brother and setting the bowl of cereal on the coffee table in front of me so I could focus more.
“You probably were too young to remember when I was first trained by Phil, but I ended up losing a lot of my childhood to it.” He huffed.

“I got powers at a really young age and spent every spare moment training to use them. I don’t blame Phil for making me do this, after all he wanted me to learn how to use them properly so I didn’t hurt innocent people.” There was a moment of hesitation. “However, the training ended up taking all of our spare time.”

“Phil had me join a bunch of school clubs earlier to find out a mission, but I haven’t found anything useful there yet.” I admitted with a shrug. “It would probably be more useful for me to be training to fight than going on a wild goose chase for a criminal's son.”
“Oh yeah that,” Techno reminisced. “We lied cause you were being annoying.”

He glanced over at me as he said that and then began chortling out laughter as he saw my expression. “But have you seriously been going on with this the entire month without giving up?” I nodded a yes, causing my brother to beam widely. “I am honestly impressed.”
“That’s not the point Techno!”

“I know, I know.” He stood up and stretched lightly, having already finished his drink while I grabbed my cereal, deciding that I should start eating it before the cereal became soggy in the milk. I tailed after him while eating and watched quietly as he cleaned the cup in the sink before setting it down.

“You know what Tommy, since you are showing that you are committed, I will train you some basic combat moves once you get home from school.” His words made me grin widely, and I began basically bouncing up and down on the spot eagerly.

“Thank you Techno!” I spoke enthusiastically. “You are the best brother ever!”
“I know I am,” he stated emotionlessly. “Now get ready for school because I don’t want Philza to wake up when you want a ride because you realise that you are going to be late again.” He walked past me again and returned to the living room with me following after him.

“But Techno, can’t I just stay home again today and have you teach me instead of going to school?” I questioned. “Saving the city is more important than my shitty science class.”
“I have plans today Tommy, I am going out and having some time to myself. You go to school and then after I train you.”

“What do you mean you are going out?” I decided to pester him with the question. “You never go out, you just stay home and then kick bad guy ass during the day if you see anything wrong.”
“You really think that you know everything about what I do Tommy?” He asked in response. “I have a life outside of the headquarters you know.”

“Why are you going out though?” I continued. “Is it your birthday or something? Are you going out to celebrate?”
“You don’t know your own brother’s birthday?” The pinkette cocked an eyebrow and sent me a sideway glance. “But no, it’s not my birthday.”

“Are you going on some sort of date?” I wondered. “George, Karl, and Bad all got boyfriends, did you get one too? Or maybe a girlfriend? You might be as good with the ladies as I am.”
“George, Karl, and Bad all got villains, and that is not something I am interested in, so it is not a date. Now stop asking.”

“Is it because you are feeling stressed about everything that’s going on and just want some time out of the house to think?” I made a guess, causing him to freeze where he was standing for a moment before wordlessly nodding. So I added onto my guess. “Is it because you are worried about George and Karl?”

“Yes, it is.” He answered, turning to gaze at me. “You know for an annoying brat you might be able to make a good detective.” The pinkette hummed in approval. “I am worried because both of them could end up dead if they aren’t careful, and that I’ll have to choose between saving those who I care about and saving the rest of the city.”

“And if it comes down to it… who would you pick?” I asked, furrowing my brows, however he refused to answer me.
“I’ll see you this afternoon for training, Tommy.” He told me as he began walking up the stairs to the door.

I just stood there for a moment as he went outside before sighing to myself and returning to my bedroom so that I could get ready for school.

And that was the last time I saw my brother alive.
_________________________________________
1460 words

Two chapters left to go, how do you all think this story is going to end?

However, on a more positive note. Shot in Love and Crime is out right after this. If you like this type of slow burn superhero stories (and you must cause you've been here for two books and about 150 chapters), then you'd probably like to check this out.

A mafia fic where George gets kidnapped by the mafia and it just so happens that the leader of the mafia as an ex-boyfriend. A lot of interesting story material for that.

Anyways, have a nice day (Dream face reveal should be in around 24 hrs)